The mid-term elections will prove decisive to the immigration issue. For a discussion from the anti-immigrationist's perspective on what can happen if the Democrats take Congress, see here. Also, Frank Sharry in a recent commentary points out one of the bellweather races to watch (from an immigration perspective) is Arizona's 8th Congressional district race.

... "Republican Congressman Jim Kolbe (R-AZ), one of the strongest supporters of comprehensive reform, is retiring. In the Republican primary Randy Graf, an enforcement-only hawk, won his party's nomination by emphasizing his hard line on enforcement. His Democratic opponent, a woman named Gabrielle Giffords, strongly supports the McCain-Kennedy comprehensive reform approach. Graf threw down the gauntlet when he said, "If this issue can't be won in this district...the argument can be made that it can't be won anywhere in the country." So far, most polls have the Democrat Giffords with a commanding lead ..."

From an immigration viewpoint, another important election battleground is in Virginia between incumbent George Allen and challenger James Webb. Webb has expressed opposition to H-1B visas. In a recent debate, responding to a question on H-1Bs, Webb replied,

"I do not support guest worker programs. This applies to H1-B visas, except in the most extraordinary circumstances. I do not believe the myth of the
tech worker shortage. Our priority as a society should to be to invest in and improve domestic technical and scientific education programs so that there are enough qualified job applicants available from the pool of domestic labor. The primary concern of our government in terms of immigration is to secure our border. Until that is accomplished, and the status of the 12 million illegal immigrants already in America is resolved, guest worker programs are counterproductive."

The current elections occur against the backdrop of considerable activity in both chambers in the last 12 months. For the Senate's part, it passed a compromise, bipartisan, comprehensive bill. On the House side, we had one of the most draconian bills in memory, the Sensenbrenner bill, which fortunately, died in the Senate. History will show that the Sensenbrenner bill was indeed a dark moment in US immigration history. We hope that the new Congress - regardless whether Democrat or Republican - enacts truly workable comprehensive immigration reform consisting of both enforcement and benefits provisions.

We welcome readers to share their opinion and ideas with us by writing to editor@ilw.com.

Help Wanted: Immigration Attorney
Lincoln area, NE - USCIS Office of Chief Counsel (OCC) seeks experienced attorney for the position of Service Center Counsel at the Nebraska Service Center. Responsibilities include, but are not limited to, providing legal advice to
Nebraska Service Center personnel on issues involving immigration related
adjudications, inadmissibility and deportability grounds, and national
security. Applicants must possess a J.D. degree, be an active member of the bar (any
jurisdiction), have at least one year of post J.D. experience. Applicants must submit cover letter, resume, + writing sample. Send to: Reid Tilson at Reid.Tilson@dhs.gov. All submissions must be received by close of business Friday, November 27, 2006. GS13-GS15 levels and is open until filled. No relocation reimbursement available. For more info, key in Job Announcement Number:
CIS-COU-2006-0015 at USAJobs.com.

Help Wanted: Immigration Paralegal
West Los Angeles-15 person leading immigration law firm seeks legal assistant/paralegal. Candidate should have 1+ years of immigration experience. Will be trained to prepare primarily L & E visas. Must have excellent writing, typing, case management and communication skills. BA Degree preferred. Also, must be detailed oriented, organized, conscientious and care about clients. If you are interested in working in a very congenial atmosphere and meet the stated requirements, please e-mail your resume and salary requirements to Mark Ivener at mark@usworkvisa.com.

Help Wanted: Immigration Attorneys
Toronto, Canada - Greenburg Turner, a global corporate immigration law firm, is seeking 2 experienced attorneys with a minimum of two years practicing business immigration law handling a high volume caseload. Candidates must be experienced handling a range of nonimmigrant (H-1B, TN, L,) and immigrant
(PERM, permanent residency) matters. Candidate must have the ability to provide exceptional client service and case management skills. Please submit your resume to: lwellman@gt-hrlaw.com.

Help Wanted: Immigration Attorney
New York, NY - Hodgson Russ LLP, a 225-plus lawyer firm with offices in Buffalo, New York City, Albany, Boca Raton and Toronto seeks an associate attorney for our NYC immigration group. We represent multinational corporations, entrepreneurs, athletes, entertainers, scientists and specialized workers. We seek an attorney with experience counseling U.S. and foreign employers. The ideal candidate will have 3-5 years of business immigration experience. Please send cover letter, resume and law school transcript to Mariely Downey: mdowney@hodgsonruss.com.

Help Wanted: Immigration ParalegalBoutique immigration law firm located in beautiful downtown San Diego seeks immigration paralegal to handle employment-based immigration matters, including immigrant and nonimmigrant visa processing. Excellent academic credentials with a minimum Bachelors degree; strong verbal, written and organizational skills; computer literacy; and 2-3 years of employment-based immigration experience required. Ideal candidate has ability to produce high volume of accurate work product in a fast-paced environment. Candidates must also be self-motivated and detail-oriented. We offer a competitive salary + benefits package. Email resume with salary history/requirements to Odette at: admin@malitzlaw.com. No phone calls, please.

Help Wanted: Immigration ParalegalsFragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen, & Loewy, LLP, a global corporate immigration law firm is seeking experienced immigration paralegals for both the New Jersey and New York Offices. The ideal candidate will have 2+ years of corporate based immigration experience and will be able to work in a high volume case-processing environment. Candidate will have extensive client contact and will utilize case management and billing systems to prepare, track, and manage cases in process. Collge degree, MS Word, and Windows 2000 required. The Firm offers higly competitive salaries and excellent growth opportunities. All qualified candidates interested in working in either our NJ or NY locations please send resume + salary history to kiulo@fragomen.com. EOE.

Help Wanted: Immigration ParalegalSmall boutique firm in West Los Angeles seeking full time immigration assistant/paralegal. The individual will assist attorneys in the preparation of visa packages, non immigrant and immigrant petition applications and some office administration. Experience with family based, business, naturalization and other applications a plus. Ideal candidate has BA degree, is detail oriented, organized and conscientious. Candidate must also possess excellent writing, communication & case management skills. Proficiency in languages other than English a plus. Submit resume + salary requirements to rebecca@rebeccaholt.com. Please indicate in subject line:
Immigration Assistant position.

Help Wanted: Immigration Attorney
Washington, DC - USCIS Office of the Chief Counsel seeks attorney to work as Associate Counsel in the National Security & Records Verification Law Division (NSRVLD) at USCIS Headquarters. Provide legal advice and consultation in discussions with heads of USCIS units, and will work with USCIS managers to improve security check and fraud detection processes. Assist in coordination of legal issues involving national security, criminal and fraud matters with other agencies and will also provide litigation support in cases before the Federal courts. Experience in immigration-related criminal and national security legal issues preferred. Submit resume, writing sample (max. 5pps.) + cover letter discussing work experience regarding immigration-related criminal and national security issues to: Julia Doig Wilcox, NSRVLD Chief, at Julia.Wilcox@dhs.gov (attachments in MS Word or Adobe PDF format). All submissions must be received by close of business Friday, November 3, 2006. Position is at the GS-13 through GS-15 ($77,353-$139,774) levels and
is open until filled. No relocation reimbursement offered. For more info., see here.

Credential EvaluationCareer Consulting International, offers credential evaluation of your non-US degree. Fast service at low prices. Mention Immigration Daily to receive 3-day rush service at no extra cost (reg. price $70, rush service $70 = savings of $70). H1B and I-140 specialists. Evaluations of 4 year degrees (72hr. rush service) only $70.00. Also 3 year degrees combined with PGD, second degrees, or work experience. Pay online. Toll-free fax/phone numbers. Our clients say it better than we do: "I don't know what to say but you changed my life. In a place that others failed you came and with your evaluation... I just got approved to my I-140." "I'd like to thank you for your services in evaluating my educational documents. You helped me in a difficult situation and through extensive research you were able to get results that other, "bigger" agencies were unable to achieve". Click here to see more testimonials. Free consultation. Call today toll free: 1.800.771.4723

Readers can share their professional announcements (100-words or fewer at no charge), email: editor@ilw.com. Readers interested in learning about featuring your event or conference in Immigration Daily, see here. To feature your newsletter in Immigration Daily, see here.

New Offices - Fort Worth and McAllen, TX
The Law Office of Paul A. Esquivel, P.C. is proud to announce the November 1st opening of its new Fort Worth, Texas office (Tel: 214-631-8472. Toll free #: 1-866-378-9257 and McAllen, Texas office of the Mexico Border (Toll free #: 1-866-613-3149) to better serve the immigrant community. http://www.pesquivellaw.com/

Readers are welcome to share their comments, email: editor@ilw.com (300-words or fewer preferred). Many letters to the Editor refer to past correspondence, available in our archives.

Dear Editor:
In response to Mr. Good's 11/01/06 ID letter, I have one word, "wages". In economics and business, there are no long run shortages, only temporary ones until wages rise to lure more workers into the market - or help employers keep the ones they've got. Furthermore, if there is such a scarcity of low-wage labor, then why is Wal-Mart changing much of its current full-time workforce to part-time positions, not because of a shortage of labor, but because it saves them money by enabling them to schedule around their peak times? I'm very sure the employers his letter mentions wish they could employ the undocumented who would be oh-such good captive workers and willing to work for less than minimum wage at the beck and call of the employer. I'd love to have a job where I didn't show up and got paid thousands of dollars a day, too, but the reality is, employers don't pay for that (unless you're a CEO), any more than legal employees will work for a business that pays too little for the market or where the business won't schedule them for enough hours to make it worth their while. My niece had the latter experience - being scheduled for a two-hour "shift" that wouldn't even cover the gas money to drive in.

Ali Alexander

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